Thursday, April 23, 2009

From the Ground Up, Cultivating Inclusivity

PFLAG Tulare and Kings County is a brand new chapter in Central California. They started their involvement in PFLAG with a lot of energy and enthusiasm. They participate in many local events, in order to spread the word about PFLAG. The majority of these events have Spanish-speaking programs and attendees, such as an upcoming Multicultural Day event hosted by the Professional Latino Women’s Organization.One of the wonderful things about the Tulare and Kings County chapter is that it is already quite diverse. It was organized in such a way to reach many diverse communities from its onset, through participation in a wide variety of cultural and community events. There are Spanish-speaking chapter members who provide translating for any person who is new to the chapter and speaks only Spanish.

PFLAG National is funding PFLAG Tulare and Kings County’s continued involvement in these events and the creation of a pamphlet about the mission and activities of their PFLAG chapter for Spanish speakers. Since Spanish speakers participate in all levels of the chapter, the brochure will be provided to new Spanish speaking members to help them decide the activities in which they want to be involved in. In addition, the chapter plans to have t-shirts and buttons in Spanish available at every community event. The t-shirt is a Spanish translation of the chapter’s theme logo, “Just As You Are.”

For chapters that are newly forming, Tulare and Kings County has a great wealth of information of how to build a chapter from the ground up that is welcoming to everyone in your community.